Tavares city leaders concerned about Blue Rhino safety violations

February 6, 2014|By Stephen Hudak, Orlando Sentinel

Tavares city leaders expressed concerns Thursday about the Blue Rhino propane depot after the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited the company for 26 workplace safety violations stemming from the explosion at the plant last summer.

"I would like to see the company stay here but improve any operating aspect that is below standard," City Manager John Drury said.

The explosion July 29, blamed on a sparking forklift that ignited a cloud of propane, was deemed accidental by State Fire Marshal detectives. But a separate investigation by OSHA led to fines of $73,000 on Blue Rhino's parent company, Ferrellgas.

Five workers were severely burned in the fire, which caused an estimated $3.5 million in damage.

OSHA violations against Ferrellgas included failure to adequately train its workers to handle flammable materials like liquid propane and the practice by its workers to drain or "bleed" propane in the depot's storage yard while they were refurbishing used propane cylinders.

Blue Rhino spokesman Scott Brockelmeyer said it was not the company's practice to bleed propane tanks in the yard "under any circumstance."

A neighbor of the depot, Herb Welder, sued Blue Rhino after a football-size chunk of charred cylinder crashed through his roof the night of the fire. His lawsuit accuses Blue Rhino of negligently operating its plant.

"When you're talking about a product like they've got over there, how could a company overlook things like that?" he said about the OSHA violations.

Though admitting he was surprised by the OSHA allegations, Tavares Mayor Robert Wolfe reaffirmed his support for the company, which turns out 2.5 million refurbished and refilled propane cylinders a year.

Wolfe said he hoped the company would use the investigation's findings to make its depot safer.